The Shakespeare Cottage

This little number's right out my back door and, when it's not being used for Polly Pocket World by my kids and the cousins, it's my writing room. See? Dane and Aubrey made me a sign at the end of summer. Here it is below.


They made this sign and then found some rope to string across the inside of the cabin with lots and lots and lots of Pollys and Lego Star Wars characters taped to it. Pretty sweet banner.

I've been writing a lot in the main house -- which feels humongous after having a 2 bedroom 1100 sq. ft. apartment shared with 4 people for 3 years -- but I'm also making myself sit out in the cottage a little bit every day. As far as the writing is concerned, during this huge transition (graduation / job search / moving / unpacking / kids starting school / sports) my writing's more about quantity than quality right now.

That (above) is my favorite scrappy little chair to write in. Other than that, it's just so cool to have this little piece of history in my back yard. The cottage was originally the 1962 World's Fair booth promoting the Ashland Shakespeare Festival. Later, it was brought up to Ashland and was used as a branch of the library (there's a great newspaper write-up in the cottage with this librarian in a knit dress, wearing cat-eye glasses, and leaning out the window between shelves of books.) After that, it somehow ended up in this back yard. My landlord offered the booth back to the city as a historical monument, but got no takers. I'm okay with that.

Just in case you missed it in the slide show below.

Cousins at the Creek
Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon

What to do with all this zucchini?!?


This one's for Natalie Wermus (welcome to the blog, Nat!). She's got cucumbers coming out of her ears and I'm hooking her up with a soup recipe to die for.

Curried Zucchini & Cilantro Soup

1 medium-size onion
2 T olive oil
About 2 lbs zucchini, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 t to 1-1/2 T curry powder
1 qt buttermilk
2 c fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 c minced cilantro
Plain nonfat yogurt (optional)
Lime wedges or slices
Cilantro sprigs
Salt
Pepper

Cut onion into quarters; then thinly slice quarters crosswise. Set aside.

Preheat a 4- or 5-qt pan over medium-high heat until rim of pan is hot-to-the-touch. Add oil and wait for about 1 more minute. Add onion, zucchini, and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft (about 20 minutes).

Stir curry powder into vegetable mixture (the more curry you use, the hotter the soup's flavor will be). Cook, stirring until curry powder begins to stick to pan bottom (about 5 minutes). Add buttermilk, broth, and minced cilantro; stir to scrape any browned bits free from pan bottom.

Bring soup almost to a boil; remove from heat. Ladle soup into bowls; top with yogurt (if desired), lime, and cilantro sprigs. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes 6 servings
Prep: About 25 minutes
Cook: About 30 minutes

Quote(s) of the Day and the Essence(s) of Cool


We're at the dinner table listening to Lenny Kravitz sing "Rock N Roll Is Dead" and Aubrey says, "This sounds like it could be on Dirty Jobs."

You might have to know the Dirty Jobs theme song and be part of Mike Rowe's fan club to get that one, but she is so right. Same twangy bass sound and rhythm. (If you're curious, check out what a babe/dude Mike is here. Our whole family loves this guy. Karen, you have to read that article -- his reflections on guys in opera are hilarious.)

Anyway, a beat later in Lenny's rockathon, Dane says, "You know what I want to be when I grow up?" He's got a glimmer in his eye and he's nodding his head: "An actress and a rock star."

Really? Actresses are female, buddy.

High-five.

Of course, I'll be encouraging him to be an act[whatever], a rock star, and his first ever career idea, a paleantologist -- if I can swing it....

If he sees this clip below, though, he might never look at another dinosaur.

Here's the smooth, cool Lenny Kravitz, folks. On Letterman.



So you see Mike Rowe, you see Lenny Kravitz, and you have to ask of each of them: just how much cool can one man have?

bUddiEs


Both kids are adjusting well here in Ashland. They're making new friends (Logan, Avery, Paije, Ella, etc.), having a blast with their cousins, and thriving in school and on their sports teams.

They still miss their old friends, though. Aubrey often mentions her little pal, Gia, and has spoken with her on the phone and sent emails. She's also emailed Ms. Perez and invited her to come for a visit. (And she might! shhhh.....)

But Dane really, really misses his best buddy, Josh. He's written notes and drawn pictures -- for "Josh Skywalker from [his] buddy, Dane Skywalker" -- and he's spoken to him on the phone as well.

Since school started, Dane has told me nearly every day that he feels like he could cry when he thinks of Josh. In class, he tells me he just has to keep it together.

One day in the van, though, he really did lose it. Really bad. He just broke down sobbing during a quiet moment when we were on our way to pick up Mick from work. When he'd gathered himself a little bit, we talked about it, and he came up with this: "Mom, the only time I don't feel like crying about Josh is when I'm with Daddy."

Awww...

Quote of the Day

Aubrey tells me she has to go to the bathroom while Dane's at soccer practice, so she runs across the park toward the facilities. Halfway there, she turns around and starts running back toward me, yelling, "I DIDN'T REALLY NEED TO GO TO THE BATHROOM - I JUST HAD TO FART!"

That's my girl.

Overheard...

Dane: Sometimes a book can make me cry.
Logan: Me, too.
Dane: Do you want to know what book makes me cry?
Logan: Yeah.
Dane: The Giving Tree.
Logan: Oh, me, too.


Well, thank you, Shel Silverstein. Me, too.



Check out the review I wrote of it a couple years ago at this link. For the record, I'd UP it to 5 now. After hearing my boy talk about being moved like that, it deserves no less.

I FOUND MY family IN
SOME old YEARBOOKS!

Dane Reynolds, 1956

Aubrey Reynolds, 1964

Mick Reynolds, 1976

Anjie Seewer, 1952


I found OTHER FAMILY AND friends, TOO!

Shelby Combs, 1954

Mike Reynolds, 1950

Russell Kai Reynolds, 1976

Karen Urlie, 1960

Janice Coltom, 1968

Quote of the Day

Aubrey with a bloody nose - "I kind of like what this feels like."

HOUSTON COUSINS FINE THROUGH HURRICANE

Last time a hurricane (Katrina) threatened her home, Mick's cousin Michelle got smart, grabbed her boyfriend, split town, hit Vegas, and got hitched.

Now the happy couple lives in Houston and with a new threat to their home (Ike) I wondered what snazzy plan they had up their sleeves this time.

Cameron (husb.) wrote back to fill me in. His subject heading: Yikes It's Ike! I take his opening line to mean that if I can share his letter with all the Reynolds, I can share it with all my thousands of readers (likely one and the same).

Here it is:

Anjie,

You can go ahead and forward this to all the other Reynolds since I don't have the addresses...

We are doing absolutely fine. Our house survived the storm Friday night, and other than a few downed limbs in the yard we escaped unscathed. It was a dicey night. A tornado actually touched down across the street and took out a couple pines and a very large oak tree and landed on some of the neighbors houses. I feel truly blessed to have done so well considering.

Starting at 2 am we got hit by the east side of the eye wall and it traveled due North with wind at 60 mph gusting to 90 mph from 2am until 8 am... Needless to say I didn't sleep much. The next day I went outside and our street was flooded until about 10 in the morning. Michelle was on a girls trip to Napa valley this weekend and left on friday morning, and I have been on my own for the duration. The evening after the storm was a nasty night. 100% humidity and about 85 degrees with no power. I slept with all 4 bedroom windows open and no screens... I think if it is possible to overdose on mosquito bites I would have found out. If it wern't for the whisky I would not have slept a wink! I woke up to a thunderstorm that dumped more rain on us than the hurricane, and the street was flooded again. I met Tom in Lake Charles yesterday morning and he gave me his generator, a small AC unit and a case of water which has been a life saver. I slept with AC last night and it was beautiful! I used the generator to run the dishwasher and the washing machine today, as well as power the fridge. It felt so luxurious...

Michelle's flight was rescheduled for Wednesday, and she is trapped in a posh hotel in San Fransico, getting mani-peti's and wined and dined...

But I am well and the house is fine. Thank goodness fot the weather change. The temperature has dropped by 20 degrees. We went from a high of 95 on Saturday to 75 today which is amazing after a hurricane...

Thanks for the concern...

Cameron...

DANE IN A BOX

I am a ro-bot. waddle waddle waddle away.

Guess who walked to school alone today?

It's Back To School with

Miss Nancy's Class in the Ashland Tidings!

See if you can find Aubs...
To read the article click here.

We Are the WALKER WOLVES!
first day of school update

Can't find the device to upload photos yet, so I'll have to just give you some text.

First of all, let me assure you that the first day outfits were grand. Nothing fancy, but grand in that they were our first elementary clothes that weren't uniforms! (The verdict's still out on whether that's good or bad.)

Dane wore running shoes, khaki skate shorts and a red striped polo. He also sported a sweet new haircut Pops gave him yesterday morning.

Aubrey wore her old fav, the old Hello-Kitty-face-in-sequins t-shirt, a turquoise fleece sweatshirt, a denim skirt, and her Converse hightops. That felt really cold, though (even though it got hot later), so she wore pink valour sweats under the jeans skirt. Braided ponytail in back with rubber band above and rubberband below the braid. Yes, she was that specific when I told her she had to let me do her hair.

Aubrey's in First Grade w/ Miss Nancy. Aubrey came home saying she'd noticed a girl named Paije/ "She's cute, Mom." Of course. Well, that's one new friend!

Dane's in Second Grade w/ Inge. He said he played with a cool kid named Zane today. The Dane/Zane rhyme wasn't lost on him, either. So, there's another new friend.

We walked to school and met the crossing guards, who make it a point to learn all the walkers' names. Crossing Guard Pam told me that parents often let their kids walk to school solo b/c she gets them across Siskiyou Blvd and watches them down to Crossing Guard Linda (or whatever her name is), who then sees them across Ashland St and on to school. Dane thought that sounded really cool, but I said No Way Today, Buster. At least not for a while -- for Mom's sake.

After school, cousin Barritt (grade 3) and Jude (age 4) came over and played with Dane; Aubrey went to Gymnastics class at the Y with Indi. After Gymnastics, those two stayed and played here, too. Lots of hot tubbin', Polly Pockets, and role playing.

Aubrey loved gymnastics.

I think everybody's going to bed happy tonight.